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Almost a saint: Antonietta Meo

An Italian girl was today placed on course by the Vatican to become the youngest saint in history.

Antonietta Meo was just six-and-a-half years old when she lost her battle against bone cancer.

But in the final months of her life she began writing letters to Jesus which theologians have declared to be "extraordinary", and the works of a "mystic".

The letters reveal that when the girl had her leg amputated, at the age of five, she bore her sufferings cheerfully and offer them up in union with those of the crucified Christ.

Pope Benedict XVI approved a decree recognising the "heroic virtues" of Antonietta.

This means that two miracles are now required to declare the youngster first "blessed" and then a saint. This normally comes within a few months of the decree on heroic virtues and puts the candidate on the penultimate rung of the ladder to sainthood.

If she is eventually canonised she will be the youngest non-martyr saint in the 2,000-year history of the Roman Catholic Church.

Antonietta, who was nicknamed by her family "Nennolina", was born in Rome in 1930 but by the age of five she was diagnosed with cancer.

After the amputation of her leg she was fitted with a false, heavy limb so she could continue to play with other children.

At about that time she also began to write prayers to God, Jesus and Mary in the form of letters.

Vatican experts say the letter reveal "a truly extraordinary life of mystical union with God".

In one of the letters she wrote: "Dear baby Jesus, you are holy, you are good. Help me, grant me your grace and give me back my leg. If you don't want to, then may your will be done." Antonietta died on 3 July 1937 and her cause for sainthood was opened in Rome in 1972.

The Vatican has always been cautious about proclaiming children as saints.